Apparatus for feeding and cutting multiple fabrics.



APPARATUS FOR PATENTED MAR.-19, 1907;

H. ZIMMBRMAN. FEEDING AND CUTTING MULTIPLE FABRICS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 27, 1906. ZSHEETS-SHEET 1.

at fozmu o rim NGRRISPETERS co, WASHINGTON, n, c.

No: 847,536. PATENTED MAR. 19, 1907. I H. -ZIMMBRMAN; APPARATUS FORFEEDING AND'GUTTING MULTIPLE FABRICS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 27.1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

THE NORRIS PETERS co, WASHINGTON. n. c.

HARRY ZIMMERMAN,

OF FREMONT, OHIO.

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING AND CUTTING MULTIPLE FABRICS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 19, 1907.

Application filed June 27,1906. Serial No. 323,665.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY ZIMMERMAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Fremont, in the county of Sandusky and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Feedingand Cutting Multiple l abrics, of which the following is aspecification.

In the manufacture of many articlesas corsets, collars, cuffs, &c.it iscommon to lay a series of strips of fabric one upon the other, to extendthe end of the multiple mass over a cutting-board, and to cut throughthe mass by dies or cutters operated by a suitable press, and as all ofthat portion which is upon the cutting-board is cut away to draw themass of material lengthwise to bring an uncut portion thereof above theboard and repeat the cutting operations. This is attended with greatditliculty and much labor, because the mass is exceedingly heavy, forwhich reason it becomes necessary to operate upon comparatively limitedamounts of material, including strips of limited length, and the shorterthe length and the more frequently operations upon new strips arerequired the greater is the amount of waste and loss, because it is notpracticable to so cut the sections from the fabric that there will be nowaste as the end of the fabric is reached.

To facilitate the operations and to enable me to operate on strips ofextended length while handling the great mass of material with ease anddcspatch, I make use of the apparatus hereinafter described, andillustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure l is anelevation illustrating my apparatus as adapted for use where power isnot applied for moving the multiple fabric, and P ig. 2 is an elevationillustrating the arrangement where the apparatus is driven by power.

Referring first to Fig. 1, I illustrates a press which may be of anysuitable character and which is provided with a cutting-board J, adaptedto slide back and forth upon a roller-bed beneath the platen 1O ofthepress, and A represents a frame or support for a series of rolls offabrics X which is to be cut. In practice as many as fifty of said rollswill be employed at one time; but for purposes of-illustration I haveshown a more limited number, the strips being drawn from the differentrolls and brought together in a mass Y, which is carried beneath theplaten 10 and onto the cutting-board J, and the cutters K are placedupon the mass when the board is carried beyond the platen, as shown, andthe board is then pushed back under the platen and the latter broughtdown upon the cutters, which are forced through the mass.

Between the press and support A for the rolls I arrange a carriage O,which is suitably guided so that it may be reciprocated back and forth,and with a platform 30 so arranged that it will support the mass ofmaterial. The carriage may be provided with wheels adapted to suitabletracks. As shown, it has wheels 12, adapted to therails of an elevatedtrack 13, and it will be seen that if the attendant draws the stripsfrom the rolls X so as to leave the desired amount of material hangingin loops between the support A in the carriage a draft upon the materialto pull the end of the mass over the cuttirig-board J will result incarrying the carriage toward the press, the carriage thus supporting themain weight of the material, so

that the feeding operation is greatly facilitated. In some cases thecarriage alone is interposed between the rolls and the press and can beoperated as above described; but the operation may be greatlyfacilitated by the use of a table F intermediate the carriage and thepress and supporting the material between the two, and in order that thedifferent strips may be adjusted so that all of their edges may bebrought into line upon the same vertical plane I provide the carria ewith a series of parallel supports or guides 33 in the form of rollsarranged upon an inclined plane, as shown, the different strips beingpassed over the different rolls and each being, therefore, capable oflateral adjustment independent of the other.

To prevent the material from being dragged from the press when thecarria e. is moved back toward the rolls, I provi e a clamp H, by meansof which the mass can be clamped to the table F as the carriage movesbackward. As shown, the clamp consists of a suitably-guided cross-bar14, connected with a frame 15, extending below the table, and with across-bar 16, against which may be brou ht eccentrics 17 upon a shaft18, provide with a handle 19, so that by turning the said shaft by meansof the handle the cross-bar can be brought with the desired pressureupon the mass of material to clamp I o the carriage.

the same to the table, a spring serving to elevate the frame andcross-bar when the handle is swung in the opposite direction.

In the construction shown in Fig. 2 the ap- 5 paratus is provided withan operating-shaft T 5 backward movement of the carriage and re leasingit as the carriage reaches the limit of its movement. In order that theforward movement of the carriage may draw the material directly from therolls without the ne- 2o cessity of pulling it down into loops by handto secure slack portions, I provide the carriage with a clamping deviceG, shown as a cylinder 24, arranged eccentrieally upon a shaft 25,provided at the end with an arm 7,

2 5 and stop-pins 8 9 are arranged upon the table F, so that as thecarriage reaches its position nearest the rolls the shaft will be turnedso as to cause the fabric to be clamped to the carriage, and as thecarriage approaches the clamp H the arm 7 will contact with the stop 9and swing the clamp G so as to release the pressure upon the fabric andpermit the operator to move the mass upon the cuttingboard J to itsdesired positionan operation 3 5 which may be readily effected, owing tothe limited amount of material between the carriage and the press whichhas to be moved. In order to facilitate the support and adjust ment ofthe material upon the cutting-board,

0 I prefer to provide the latter with an extension 2, which will supportpart of the material between the cutting-board and the table F. In theconstruction shown in Fig. 2, where it'is not necessary to draw thematerial t 5 from the rolls by hand and have it hang in loops, I makeuse of a series of guides M, arranged to receive the material thatpasses from the rolls X, bringing them in their proper relation to eachother, and in order to then bring the various strips into closerproximity and still in proper relation I make use of another series ofguides N, closer spaced than the guides M, and from the guides N thematerial passes to the series of guides 33 to the carriage C, thematerial passing in straight lines between its guides and being drawnupon these lines by the movement of the carriage toward the press.

. By the above-described arrangement I am enabled to make use of rollsof material containing continuous strips of great length and to therebyavoid the loss which results from cutting up shorter strips. I amenabled to feed the material in heavy masses from the rolls to the presswithout great exertion on the part of the operator and with the use of alimited amount of labor even when no power is employed, and when poweris employed the operator at the press can practically control the entiremovement of the fabric. I or these reasons also the operations aregreatly expedited, so that the product per day of the cutting operationsis increased many times over the result of apparatus heretoforeemployed.

Without limiting myself to the details of construction shown, I claim 1.In an apparatus for cutting multiple fabrics, the combination with thecutting press, of supports for a series of rolls of fabric, and acarriage supporting the material between the rolls and press and movableback and forth between the two.

2. In an apparatus for cutting multiple fabrics, the combination withthe cuttingpress, of supports for a series of rolls of fabric, acarriage supporting the material between the rolls and press and movableback and forth between the two, and means for clamping the material tothe carriage and for unclamping the same.

3. In an apparatus for cutting multiple fabrics, the combination withthe cuttingpress, of supports for a series of rolls of fabric, acarriage supporting the material between the rolls and press and movableback and forth between the two, and means for automatically clamping thematerial to the carriage and for unclamping the same.

4. In an apparatus for cutting multiple fabrics, the combination of thecutting-press, means for supporting a series of rolls of fabric, anintermediate carriage, and means for reciprocating the carriage betweenthe rolls and the press.

5. In an apparatus for cutting multiple fabrics, the combination of thecuttingpress, means for supporting a series of rolls of fabric, anintermediate carriage, means for clamping the material automatically tothe carriage and releasing it, and means for reciprocating the carriagebetween the rolls and the press.

6. In an apparatus for cutting multiple fabrics, means for supportingrolls of fabric, a cutting-press, an intermediate carriage slidingbetween the two, and a supporting-table for the fabric between thecarriage and press.

7. In an apparatus for cutting multiple fabrics, means for supportingrolls of fabric, a cutting-press, and intermediate carriage slidingbetween the two, a supporting-table for the fabric between the carriageand press, and means for clamping the material to the carriage andtable.

8. In an apparatus for cutting multiple fabrics, means for supportingrolls of fabric, a cutting-press, and intermediate carriage slidingbetween the two, a supporting-table for the fabric between the carriageand press.

and means for automatically clamping the lateral adjustment of thesuperposed strips material to the carriage and table. of fabric.

9. The combination with the supports of a In testimony whereof I affixmy signature series of rolls of fabric, and with a cuttingin presence oftwo witnesses; press, of an intermediate carriage, supports HARRYZIMMERMAN. upon which the carriage reciprocates, and a series ofsuperposed separatedsupports on said carriage whereby to permit theseparate Witnesses: I

CHARLES E. FooTE, EDWIN S. CLARKsoN.

